We're Just Friends (Frank Iero)

7.

Frank's P.O.V

Despite the fact I had sworn to myself that I would pay attention in class and actually attempt to pass my midterms, I couldn't concentrate in class today. There was something weird going on with my entire body- my hands were constantly sweating, my legs were shaking, my head was hurting and my heart felt like it was beating 10,000 times per second. I tried to focus my attention on Biology but it was only making me feel worse, so I snuck out of class for the final hour of school and decided to wait by the school gate for Poppy. Unfortunately for me, I saw Gerard walking over before Poppy had arrived.

"H-hey Frank," he stuttered with a weak smile. He was so shy that I couldn't understand why Poppy was into him, but maybe that was just the jealousy talking. He seemed nice...nice enough.

"Hey Gerard," I said, trying not to sound sarcastic or angry when I spoke. "Where you taking my Pops tonight?" 

I tried to say this in a joking tone but it came out a little more threatening than I had intended and I could see Gerard looking more and more uncomfortable.

"A-actually there's a p-party tonight, a big party from one of the popular kids, but my brother knows one of them so I'm gonna take her to that," he explained. I rolled my eyes slightly, thinking about how much Poppy hated the popular kids and those "loud and pointless" parties as she called them. "You can come along if you like," Gerard added.

I had already heard about this party from Grace- I think her new boyfriend was the party host. She had invited me out of politeness and the fact that she was a bit of a slut and probably wanted to have sex with me there. I decided to hold back confessing my love for Poppy for a better occasion and instead keep an eye on her 'date' with Gerard tonight.

***

"Can you believe it?" Poppy breathed, pulling away her sweater and unbuttoning her blouse. I tried not to stare as she unhooked the last button and ripped away her blouse, revealing nothing but her smooth pale skin and a black lace bra. "I thought he was taking me on a date, but instead he invites me to Grace-fucking-Penney's-boyfriends-shitty-house-party." She slipped a t-shirt on over her head and somehow managed to get stuck. "Frankie, help me!" she laughed. I stood up and walked over to her, admiring her body while her eyes were blindfolded by the t-shirt. I wanted her so badly. I gently pulled her t-shirt down, covering up her perfect body but revealing her gorgeous face. I tried not to look into her eyes for too long in case it made her feel awkward, and headed back to my position on her bed.

"He's learning," I shrugged. "He's probably never had a girlfriend before."

"I've never had a proper boyfriend," she replied. "But I still know the difference between a date and a stupid party. Are you taking the shitcar there?"

"No, I'm gonna walk, I might actually drink tonight," I said. Poppy looked at me with slight caution before pulling me off the bed and dragging me out of the house.

As we arrived at the party, Poppy found Gerard and quickly disappeared into the crowd of drunk students who were far too underage to be drinking. I grabbed myself a beer and looked around, scanning each room for a sight of somebody I knew.

"Hey bro."

I turned around to see Ray stood in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" I replied. "Aren't you too old for this party?"

"Grace Penney invited me, I think she wants to hook up with me," he shrugged, before taking a long gulp of beer. "Obviously I'm not gonna hook up with her, it's just funny. Did you tell Poppy you looooove her?"

I hit him hard around the arm for using such a mocking tone.

"No of course I fucking didn't," I said, shaking my head. "I feel so dumb."

"You'll find the right moment," Ray said reassuringly. 

An hour or so later Ray and I walked into a lounge where we were reunited with Poppy and Gerard, who had just sat down to play a drinking game with a group of other kids from our school. I'd had about six beers by this point and was finding it difficult to look at Poppy and Gerard as they held hands or flirted with each other with sickeningly sweet eye contact. 

"Let's play Truth or Dare," Grace Penney smirked, placing a bottle in the middle of the circle, which consisted of about ten students, and spinning it. It landed on Ray.

"I want dare," Ray smirked.

"I dare you to...kiss Frankie," Grace giggled. I rolled my eyes with irritation but to please the crowd I pouted with enthusiasm and allowed Ray to plant a kiss on my lips.

"Love you dude," Ray joked as he pulled away from my face.

"Love you too Ray," I laughed, causing everyone else to laugh. The bottle span around again and landed on me.

"Truth," I requested, fearing that a dare would cause me to do something stupid.

"Is is true that you have a crush on somebody in this circle?" Ray asked. I felt my whole body freeze up and I quickly broke eye contact with everybody in the circle. I nodded awkwardly, causing everyone to cheer and mock me.

"It's probably Grace," I heard Poppy mutter into Gerard's ear. "They used to date."

All of a sudden I felt so much anger and frustration build up inside of me. Poppy truly had no idea how I felt about her and she underestimated me, assuming that I would waste my time with the likes of Grace Penney after how she treated Poppy. I clenched my fists and bit down hard on my lip to try and ease the anger, but it was soon to be let out. The bottle span a few more times and it was funny to watch people make confessions or do stupid dares, but it eventually got out of hand.

"I dare Poppy to kiss Gerard," Grace grinned. I swear to God as she said this she looked at me with such a smug grin, as if she knew what I was going through and wanted to rub my face in it. I looked up at the exact moment I shouldn't have, and saw Gerard place a kiss on Poppy's lips. The kiss alone didn't bother me too much, but I saw that when he kissed her, a smile broke out on her face just before she kissed him back, and at this point I felt hopeless. I hadn't ever seen Poppy look happy in that way- she was blushing and her smile looked shy rather than the confident, out-going Poppy that I knew. She liked him, and I had completely disregarded this fact. I put down my beer and got up to leave, deciding I had seen enough and wanted to go home. I stormed out of the house and began to walk down the driveway.

"Frankie?"

I turned around to see Poppy stood there, holding her cardigan around herself to shield her from the cold. Her hair was blowing in the wind and I could see her shivering as she stood there, allowing the icy cold wind to wash over her. 

"I'm gonna go home Pops," I said, trying to act calm but my voice was shaking and it was obvious that I was about to cry, so I tried to make excuses. "Think I drank too much."

"Frank, I've known you long enough to know when you're upset and when you're drunk," she said, walking down the driveway until she was stood right in front of me. Despite my short height, she was still much shorter than me, so she gazed up into my eyes and I gazed down at hers.

"I can't do this anymore," I said, shaking my head. "I can't look at you like this anymore."

"What?" she responded, looking offended. "What did I do? Frankie we never fall out, tell me what I've done."

"Nothing!" I insisted. "And...everything. I can't watch you at these shitty parties, being let down by Gerard when you want to go on proper dates but all he wants to do is go to these parties, and I can't watch you kiss him Poppy. Not now, not ever."

"Why?" she asked, looking genuinely confused but I knew from the look in her eyes that she sensed what was going on in my mind. 

"Because I fucking love you Poppy!" I shouted. "You know I fucking love you, you know I always have!"

I saw the shock spread across her body when I shouted at her and I instantly felt like the worst person in the world. So, I did the only thing that I could think of after six beers- I ran home at full speed without looking back.